Chapter 29

In Li Mu's era, high school students, especially those in key high schools, were mostly very well-behaved, with few smoking or drinking, unlike the high school students a few years later.

However, when it came to the farewell dinner, it seemed that every boy had learned to smoke and drink.

After submitting their college application forms, most of the classmates in the class rushed to the gathering.

The class monitor booked a large private room in a mid-range restaurant, which could accommodate all the students attending the farewell dinner with four tables.

There were more boys than girls in the science class, roughly a 3:1 ratio, so everyone sat at different tables according to their personalities.

No one knew who had bought several packs of Soft Hongmei cigarettes, and each table of boys had two packs.

At first, only a few boys who knew how to smoke had a few puffs, but as the alcohol consumption increased, by the second half of the dinner, almost every boy had a cigarette in his mouth. However, most of them didn't really know how to smoke, taking a puff and then spitting it out directly without letting it filter through their lungs. For Li Mu, this wasn't secondhand smoke; it was as if others were feeding him the smoke.

The girls were particularly generous today. Usually, they couldn't stand the smell of smoke, but today, in this smoky room, not a single one of them said a word of opposition.

Li Mu looked at each boy around him. Regardless of their appearance, they all had red faces and red eyes, whether from the sadness of parting or from the smoke-filled room.

With red eyes, it was inevitable that someone would break down first. A boy whose name Li Mu couldn't remember choked on a puff of smoke, started coughing, and suddenly burst into loud sobs on the table.

Immediately, the room was filled with cries, curses, and farewells.

The girls also cried. Li Mu, looking from a distance, noticed that Su Yingxue had red eyes, on the verge of tears.

Li Mu originally thought these kids were too immature and childish, but he forgot that in the previous dinner, he was the third one to cry.

Now, being back in the scene, Li Mu, who originally felt somewhat superior, felt his eyes start to sting.

This dinner meant that everyone present had come to the end of a chapter in their lives and was saying goodbye to a group of people, about to embrace the next stage of life with uncertainty, the unknown, and trepidation.

Li Mu didn't want to cry, so he picked up a Soft Hongmei cigarette from the table, awkwardly lit it with a lighter, and took a deep drag.

In his previous life, Li Mu was a smoker. When he couldn't write code, cigarettes were like a疏通剂 (unblocking agent) for his blocked thoughts. In this life, he had no physical craving for cigarettes, so he didn't want to touch them. But at this moment, it seemed that only cigarettes could hold back his tears.

Su Yingxue secretly observed Li Mu, seeing him take a large puff of smoke and then pause for a moment before exhaling a thin stream of smoke from his mouth and nose. She was amazed.

This was clearly the way a seasoned smoker would do it, just like her father when he was troubled by a case.

Li Mu, halfway through his cigarette, noticed Su Yingxue looking at him with red eyes. Their eyes met, and he didn't instinctively look away. The combined effects of alcohol and nicotine made him subconsciously mouth three words to Su Yingxue.

"I'm still here."

Su Yingxue couldn't hold back any longer, turned her head, and shed two streams of clear tears.

A group of boys who were not used to drinking showed an unexpectedly high alcohol tolerance. The three tables of boys drank over a hundred bottles of beer, about four or five bottles per person, which was quite impressive for high school seniors.

The vice monitor, a girl, seeing that everyone had eaten and drunk enough, didn't dare to let them drink any more. They had already booked a KTV, and if they got too drunk here, what would be the point of the next stop?

She quickly got up, paid the bill, and then walked to the drunken class monitor with a worried face, whispering, "Monitor, we've overspent on the meal. The beer cost over three hundred yuan. What if we don't have enough money for the KTV?"

Each person had contributed fifty yuan. A table of dishes now cost less than three hundred yuan, but with the beer, the total came to about fifteen hundred yuan. They had planned to leave eight hundred yuan for the KTV, as the largest KTV room was not cheap and came with a bundle of drinks and snacks.

The class monitor, dazed, raised a hand, trying to say something but failing. Li Mu called the vice monitor over and whispered, "How much are we short?"

"Less than three hundred."

Li Mu nodded, quietly took out a thousand yuan from his pocket, kept one hundred for himself, and slipped the rest into the vice monitor's hand, whispering, "Keep it low-key. Order more food and drinks later to make sure everyone has a good time. Leave some money for everyone to take a taxi home after."

Fortunately, Li Mu had a thousand yuan on him, and he wanted everyone to have a good time without having to chip in again.

But the vice monitor hurriedly refused, "I meant to ask the monitor to have everyone contribute another ten yuan. We don't need so much, and besides, this is your own money..."

"Stop talking nonsense," Li Mu said, gesturing to the group of drunk guys around him. "Look, everyone is already drunk. Who's going to listen to you? Take the money and use it. I won't ask anyone to pay me back, and keep it low-key. Just make sure everyone is taken care of."

The vice monitor hesitated for a moment, seeing that Li Mu didn't seem to be drunk and acting heroically, and nodded lightly.

Li Mu asked her, "Is everything set up at the KTV?"

"Yes," the vice monitor nodded. "It's not far, just five or six hundred meters away."

"Alright," Li Mu said. "I'll get this group up, and you go tell the girls we're leaving."

The vice monitor went back to the girls' table, and Li Mu stood up, filling a glass with wine. The room was chaotic, with over thirty boys gathered in groups, either shouting or crying. He had to take an empty bottle and tap the bottom on the table for half a minute to get everyone's attention before saying, "Everyone, get up quickly. We're going to the KTV to sing and drink more."

The drunk guys, hearing they were going to the KTV to sing and drink, immediately cheered, howling and finishing their last glasses of wine before getting up to leave.

The girls, seeing the boys in such a state, didn't rush out. When most of the boys had left, the vice monitor said to the girls, "Let's go."

The girls got up and left one by one. Su Yingxue walked to the vice monitor, pulled her hand, and whispered, "What did Li Mu say to you when you went to the monitor?"

The vice monitor looked around and then whispered, "Li Mu gave me nine hundred yuan, saying to make sure everyone has a good time and to take a taxi home."

Su Yingxue was stunned. "Nine hundred?"

"Yes," the vice monitor sighed. "It scared me. The tuition and fees for a semester in high school are only eight hundred..."

"Is he a bit out of control from drinking too much?"

"No," the vice monitor said. "I confirmed it several times. Li Mu also told me to keep it low-key and make sure everyone is taken care of."

Su Yingxue nodded lightly and didn't ask any more.

...

"That laughter reminds me of my flowers..."

From the moment they entered the KTV, the drunk boys all clamored to sing this song. Unfortunately, there were only two microphones, so they took turns singing it five or six times.

Each time, two or three boys shared a microphone, and each time, they sang like they were being slaughtered, with every boy singing the song in tears.

The girls didn't compete with the boys, just sitting on the side and listening quietly, moved to tears even by the worst singing.

Li Mu wanted to stop them from endlessly repeating the song, but the song selection system didn't have a touchscreen. It used a complicated remote control, and you had to find the song number in the songbook and then use the remote to select it. The remote was in the hands of some unknown person, and every time "Those Flowers" finished, someone would shout, "One more time," and the song would be replayed.

Feeling frustrated, Li Mu felt his ears were being tortured and was about to break down.

He wanted to smoke, but he had no cigarettes left. Li Mu went out to buy a pack of ten-yuan Jinling cigarettes, smoked one downstairs, and then went back upstairs to the private room.

Fortunately, when he returned, the group hadn't continued singing "Those Flowers," or Li Mu would have wanted to go home and sleep.

Two girls were now singing "Star Language and Wishes" by Cecilia Cheung, a popular song of the era.

Li Mu found a corner to sit in, and the boys around him continued drinking and chatting, those who wanted to talk still talking, and those who wanted to cry still crying.

After "Star Language and Wishes" finished, "Red Bean" by Faye Wong started. A voice from the microphone said, "Yingxue, Yingxue, it's your 'Red Bean'!"

Hearing it was Su Yingxue, Li Mu perked up. He had never heard her sing before. KTV had only become popular in Haizhou in May of this year, and this scene had happened in his previous life, but he had been drunk and probably a mess by then.

After the intro, a soft and gentle female voice began to sing. Li Mu inwardly praised her, thinking she sang very well. Although her voice didn't have the ethereal quality of Faye Wong's, it was still at least an 85 out of 100.

In Li Mu's heart, "Red Bean" was one of Faye Wong's most classic works.